Secret Purposes [Hardcover]

David Baddiel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 5, 2004

THE SECRET PURPOSES, David Baddiel's third novel, takes us into a little-known and still somewhat submerged area of British history: the internment of German Jewish refugees on the Isle of Man during the Second World War. Isaac Fabian, on the run with his young family from Nazism in East Prussia, comes to Britain assuming he has found asylum, but instead finds himself drowning in the morass of ignorance, half-truth, prejudice, and suspicion that makes up government attitudes to German Jews in 1940. One woman, June Murray, a translator from the Ministry of Information, stands out - and when she comes to the island on a personal mission to uncover solid evidence of Nazi atrocities, her meeting with Isaac will have far-reaching consequences for both of them. A haunting and beautifully written tale of love, displacement and survival, THE SECRET PURPOSES profoundly questions the way that truth - both personal and political - emerges from the tangle of history.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

British author Baddiel (Time for Bed) takes a little-known fact of WWII history—the internment of refugees on the Isle of Man—as inspiration for his compelling novel about a German-Jewish couple who escape the Nazis only to be wrenched apart by the British government. Isaac Fabian, who is Jewish; his gentile wife, Lulu; and their baby daughter, Rebekka, arrive safely in Cambridge in 1940. But Isaac's membership in the Communist party draws the attention of the authorities, who deport him to the Isle of Man internment camp. There, imprisonment takes a toll on his health, psyche and marriage. Isaac becomes involved with June Murray, a British translator researching the Jewish plight for the ministry of information, while back in Cambridge Lulu fends off advances from a man who had agreed to write a testimonial letter on Isaac's behalf. Baddiel combines strong characterization with satisfying narrative build, as Isaac plots to help assassinate a Nazi living among the refugees. Despite a too neat epilogue revealing the Fabians' reunion plus Isaac's false claim to June that he escaped Auschwitz, this intelligently written, layered novel should make an inventive addition to Holocaust fiction.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* British comedian and novelist Baddiel takes a turn for the dramatic in this World War II tale of Germans interned on the Isle of Man. With Europe on the verge of war, Isaac Fabian and his wife, Lulu, trade East Prussia for the peaceful confines of Cambridge. Isaac, a German Communist who betrayed his rabbi father by marrying a Gentile, feels uneasy in England, while Lulu's Aryan appearance makes it easier for her to blend in. When Isaac's outspoken behavior prompts his detainment on the Isle of Man, Lulu is left behind to care for their young daughter and gather affidavits from British citizens on her husband's behalf. Meanwhile, Ministry of Information translator June Hunter, suspicious that Nazi atrocities on the isle are far worse than reported, secretly travels to the camps to uncover the truth. There she meets Isaac, sparking an alliance that alters each in unexpected ways. Drawing on his grandfather's experiences as a refugee, Baddiel evokes the intellectual and cultural climate of the Isle of Man camps, which resembled "an English seaside holiday town behind barbed wire." Baddiel's ending may be too pat for some, but it does little to dampen this poignant examination of the impact of history upon individual lives. Allison Block
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Little Brown & Co (August 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316859311
• ISBN-13: 978-0316859318
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,133,208 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Internment on the Isle of Man, August 17, 2005

By 

Debbie Lee Wesselmann (the Lehigh Valley, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Secret Purposes (Hardcover)

David Baddiel's The Secret Purposes reveals a little known occurrence during World War II: the British internment of Germans, both Jews and suspected Nazis, on the Isle of Man. Isaac Fabian, the son of a rabbi and a professed Communist, and his German Christian wife Lulu emigrate from Königsberg to Cambridge during the beginning of the Nazi persecution of Jews. There, they and their young daughter Rebekka try to fit into the British culture that has rules almost as anti-Semitic as the country of their birth. Isaac is branded a class C, or dangerous, refugee for his Communist beliefs and Lulu, because she is non-Jewish and speaks better English, is classified as an A. As a result of this difference in status, the family is separated when the war escalates, and Isaac and thousands of other Jews and Germans are sent to an internment camp on the Isle of Man. Lulu is left behind to search for a way to gain his release. Meanwhile, an otherwise insignificant translator in the Ministry of Information, June Murray, decides to interview the Jews on the Isle of Man to uncover the truth about the atrocities being committed in their native land. There, she meets Isaac. Meanwhile, in Cambridge, Lulu tries to gather another set of very different testimonials; she needs three from upstanding British citizens that attest to Isaac's good character so that he can be released from custody.

Baddiel's writing is best when it describes the details of everyday life within the context of the times; however, despite his meticulous descriptions and the complexity of who his characters are, the author never manages to give his characters life except briefly, as in this early description of June: "She'd also had her hair cut, slightly longer than her usual high bob (she had been considering one of those finger waves that all the film stars had now, but had panicked at the last minute, thinking that it would be thought too attention-seeking for the Ministry)." Too often we are told what the characters think and what they feel ("guilt" is ever-present), and the result is a mechanical manipulation of characters we are supposed to like but can't quite connect with. There is flatness where there should be a spark. That's not to say that this book is not interesting--it is--but that it doesn't fully realize its potential.

While the plights of Isaac, Lulu, and June might not move us, certainly the plights of their real-life counterparts do. This basis in historical fact gives this novel its significance because of what it reveals about racism, anti-Semitism, wrongful persecution, and the intentional withholding of information during wartime, issues that are as relevant today as they were during World War II. Readers of historical fiction will probably appreciate this more than those simply looking for a compelling story.